Thanks to a $45,000 fundraising campaign and months of volunteer efforts, players in the Whitpain Recreation Association can do just that on a newly renovated field.

WRA members, township officials, state Rep. Kate Harper (R-61st Dist.), players and community members came together to celebrate the grand re-opening of PECO Field April 11, marking the completion of phase one of a long-term process to upgrade the organization’s baseball facilities.

“This is no small accomplishment,” Joseph Palmer, former township supervisor and WRA official, said during the re-opening ceremony. “This is unbelievable. What has happened over the past 15 years for this piece of ground to what it is today is amazing.”

The PECO Field — named so because the ground is owned by the utility company and leased for WRA use — is located off North Wales Road at the edge of the township. After sitting vacant for many years, the WRA and PECO came to an agreement back in 1968, and the current field was built approximately 10 to 12 years ago, according to Palmer.

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Now, more than a decade later, the next chapter in the field’s history has been written with a major overhaul.

The renovations at the field include a new outfield fence, the addition of a warning track in the outfield, a new backstop and two new batting cages, according to Mike Behr, the WRA’s vice president of operations. The dugout also now features a newly painted large white W.

Additionally, an area of brick pavers sits behind centerfield. In the center of the bricks is a large baseball design, and in the center of that sits a flagpole.

Following a ceremony where the WRA thanked its volunteers, donors, supporters and township officials, the field saw its first action as Dillon Maltin, 12, of Blue Bell, caught the ceremonial first pitch from his mother, Meredith.

The field is used by the organization’s 11- and 12-year-old baseball players, according to Behr, who noted that age group plays on what is termed a 50-70 field — 50 feet from the pitcher’s mound to home plate and 70 feet between bases.

“This now give us a premier 50-70 field, “ Behr said following the ceremony.

The idea for the renovations started ruminating among WRA members in the summer, with work kicking off in the fall.

“A lot of talk was going on in the summer about things that we should do and we came together as a group and began to talk about how to make it happen,” Behr said. “We raised $45,000 from the community, from local businesses.”

Behr noted the WRA originally planned to start renovations in March but since the fundraising went so successfully, the organization was able to begin in the fall — a stroke of luck given this year’s winter weather.

“It was really an amazing community effort,” Behr said, noting how many people were involved in the planning and renovations. “We could not have done this without the township.”

And while the PECO Field renovations are complete and the season is now underway, it’s just the beginning for upgrading WRA baseball facilities.

The WRA envisions the PECO Field work as the first part of a three-phase project.

Phase two is only loosely defined at the moment, Behr said, but will focus on the fields used by 6- to 10-year-olds. Phase three is still to be determined.

“We want to get people involved and get them to help us define what do we need,” he said.

While those projects are on the horizon, WRA members were happy to celebrate the PECO Field re-opening and see it get some use as players moved around the field following the ceremony — the motivating factor behind all the fundraising and volunteer work.